Page 108 of The Sleeping Girls

A musty scent assaulted Ellie, the space dark and unusually chilly. She and Derrick illuminated the room with their flashlights. At first look, it appeared empty. Cobwebs hung from the rafters and up the wall and she heard mice skittering across the wood floor.

She listened for the sound of one of the girls crying out for help but an eerie silence enveloped her.

An old wardrobe stood in one corner and an antique trunk sat against the wall. Both were big enough to hold a person. She moved toward the trunk while Derrick crossed to the wardrobe. He jiggled the door but it was stuck and he yanked at it until it opened.

Ellie held her breath as they looked inside.

Empty.

Inhaling sharply, she reached for the latch to the trunk.

ONE HUNDRED TWENTY

Relief whooshed through Ellie at the sight of old computer science magazines inside.

“Not here,” Ellie murmured on a shaky breath.

“Where the hell are they?” Derrick muttered.

“If they’re in the woods, Cord will find them.”

Despair threatened but they’d keep looking.

Derrick led the way back down the stairs. “Let’s search his office,” Ellie said. “Maybe there’s a clue in there or on his computer.”

As Ellie entered the small office, she surveyed the space. Wall-to-wall oak bookshelves held textbooks and reference books for computer technology including coding. On his desk, she found a laptop and stacks of files filled with copies of student assignments.

Derrick claimed the desk chair, opened the laptop and began to comb through Jones’s browsing history and files.

Ellie opened double wooden doors to a free-standing cabinet, her heart racing. Dozens of student pictures, which had been cut from the school yearbook, were tacked onto the interior. A photo of Anna Marie was placed in the center, a small heart-shaped locket hanging beside it. She opened the locket and found apicture of Anna Marie and Artie when they were teenagers. The two were gazing at each other as if in love.

She had been his world, Ellie realized. Then he’d learned they were related and his happy world had been shattered.

“Look at this, Derrick. I have a feeling he’s been stalking these students for a while.”

Derrick walked over and studied it. “He may not have been finished.”

Ellie chest’s tightened as Derrick returned to the computer. She dug in the drawer and found blueprints. Curious, she spread them out in front of her and studied them. At first, she didn’t understand what she was looking at but then realized it was plans for a school. Another section held schematics for the building.

Ellie narrowed her eyes. The blueprints were yellowed slightly, indicating they were years old. Not the prints for the current school. They were blueprints for the original Red Clay Mountain High.

Her breath quickened.

“Derrick,” Ellie said. “Look at this. What if he took the girls to the place where he and Anna Marie fell in love? He said they used to meet in the basement of the high school.”

Derrick snapped his fingers. “That would make sense. Maybe that’s the reason he got a job at the new school, to keep reliving his high school days.”

Ellie shivered.

“Do you know where the old school is?” Derrick asked.

“Not exactly. But Cord could probably lead us there.”

She quickly called him, then tucked the blueprints under her arm and they found Williams outside.

“Jones’s laptop is in his office,” Derrick told Williams. “Get someone to search it and look at his financials. See if he has another property where he may have left the girls he abducted.”

“Copy that,” Williams said.

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